Matti Leisola - Heretic: One Scientist’s Journey from Darwin to Design

HERETIC

HERETIC

ONE SCIENTISTS
JOURNEY FROM
DARWIN TO DESIGN

MATTI LEISOLA

JONATHAN WITT

SEATTLE DISCOVERY INSTITUTE PRESS 2018

Description

What happens when an up-and-coming European bioscientist flips from Darwin disciple to Darwin defector? Sparks fly. Just ask biotechnologist Matti Leisola.

It all started when a student loaned the Finnish scientist a book criticizing evolutionary theory. Leisola reacted angrily, and set out to defend evolution, but found his efforts raised more questions than they answered. He soon morphed into a full-on Darwin skeptic, even as he was on his way to becoming a leading bio-engineer.

Heretic is the story of Leisolas adventures making wavesand many friends and enemiesat major research labs and universities across Europe. Tracing his investigative path, the book draws on Leisolas expertise in molecular biology to show how the evidence points more strongly than ever to the original biotechnologista designing intelligence whose skill and reach dwarf those of even our finest bioengineers, and leave blind evolution in the dust.

Copyright Notice

Copyright 2018 by Discovery Institute. All Rights Reserved.

Library Cataloging Data

Heretic: One Scientists Journey from Darwin to Design by Matti Leisola and Jonathan Witt

258 pages, 6 x 9 x 0.54 in. & 0.78 lb, 229 x 152 x 14 mm & 351 g

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018930034

SCI027000 SCIENCE/Life Sciences/Evolution

BIO015000 BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY/Science & Technology

SCI008000 SCIENCE/Life Sciences/Biology

ISBN-13: 978-1-936599-50-9 (paperback), 978-1-936599-49-3 (Kindle), 978-1-936599-51-6 (EPUB)

Publisher Information

Discovery Institute Press, 208 Columbia Street, Seattle, WA 98104

Internet: http://www.discoveryinstitutepress.org/

Published in the United States of America on acid-free paper.

First Edition: February 2018.

Endorsements

Award-winning Finnish biotechnologist Matti Leisola has written a fascinating account of what happens when a scientist follows the evidence wherever it leads. Leisolas account of how he succeeded should inspire up-and-coming scientists who face the same challenge.

Biologist Jonathan Wells, PhD,

author of Icons of Evolution and Zombie Science

Scientists, like all other intellectuals, have ideas about what constitutes and what does not constitute reality. However, they are often not awareand sometimes not ready to admitthat such ideas represent the principles of their philosophy. Leisola and Witts Heretic is a unique first-hand account of the life-long adventures of a scientist who dared to challenge philosophical principles of colleague scientists. In my opinion, the outcome shows that to many scientists their philosophy is dearer than their science.

Biochemist and inventor Branko Kozuli, PhD

This book is an exciting story about how a scientists relentless search for truth makes him a heretic in the eyes of a cultural community more concerned about prestige than principle.

Tapio Puolimatka, PhD and EdD, University of Jyvskyl, Finland

This book is a personal, strong, and motivated plea for intelligent design (ID) and swims against the current of Darwinian evolution, now generally accepted in scientific circles and society. I personally do not endorse ID, but I am a good friend of the author, whom I also highly respect as a scientist active in academia and in the biotech industry over so many years. Heretic inspires readers to think critically and to open up a civilized discussion on neo-Darwinism versus ID. It covers the science and philosophical parts adequately; it is accessible to a large readership; and statements are underpinned by relevant research and literature data. Its value lies in the authors lifelong engagement and personal crusade to stimulate the public debate among scientists as well as laymen over Darwinism (chance/random mutation and natural selection) versus ID, a vision that Leisola strongly advocates.

Dr. Erick J. Vandamme, Emeritus Professor of Bioscience

Engineering, Centre for Biotechnology and Synthetic

Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

Matti Leisola has written the exciting story of almost the entire spectrum of aberrant motives, absurd fears, and unreasonable reactions to intelligent design (ID) by evolutionary scientists, clergymen, and church institutions alike, notably during his career as a scientist over the last some forty years. I would add a word on the fears of so many critics that accepting ID also means accepting the dogmata of some 1700 years of church history. ID is thoroughly neutral concerning such topics. So, the reader is invited to carefully check the historical and, what is more, the enormous wealth of scientific data Matti Leisola has presented in the present book: Test them carefully with an open mind and form your own independent opinion!

Dr. Wolf-Ekkehard Lnnig, geneticist, Cologne, Germany,

author of many books about intelligent design, his latest one

about dogs and macroevolution (in German, 2014)

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

H ERETIC IS A JOINTLY AUTHORED WORK, BUT IT IS M ATTI L EISOLA S story, so the first-person singular refers to Matti throughout the book.

Both authors want to thank John West and Discovery Institutes Center for Science and Culture for taking on this project, and in particular the input from CSC Senior Fellow Jonathan Wells. Also, grateful thanks for helpful feedback from Ann Gauger, Pat Achey, and Amanda Witt, endnote help from Sarah Chaffee, and able manuscript production work by Rachel Adams and Mike Perry.

This is a substantially new book, but its foundation is Mattis earlier Finnish work, Evoluutiouskon Ihmemaassa . Matti wants to thank his friends Pekka Reinikainen, Tapio Puolimatka, Leena Laitinen, and Reino Kalmari, for their constructive comments. Lennart Saari filled in some gaps about the seminar described in Chapter . Kimmo Plikk helped with the pictures. Matti is also in debt to numerous colleagues for stimulating, constructive, and sometimes vigorous discussions. He especially wants to thank his research colleagues Dr. Ossi Pastinen and the protein chemist Dr. Ossi Turunen.

Artist Ray Braun granted permission for repurposing some of his diagrams from Darwins Doubt by Stephen Meyer. Darwins Doubt is mentioned at several points in this book, but we have summarized some of its ideas in chapters without providing a citation at every point.

There are others who provided encouragement at crucial moments early in Mattis awakening. He looks forward to thanking them in person one day, in the words of C. S. Lewis, further up and further in.

INTRODUCTION

A S A SCIENTIST IN MY NATIVE F INLAND AND LATER IN S WITZERLAND, I have been privileged to take part in some significant scientific breakthroughs, to lead some groundbreaking research projects in biochemistry and biotechnology, and to work alongside some world-famous scientists from Europe, Japan, and the United States. While we did not always see eye to eye, we shared a love for scientific testing and discovery. But there was another side of me, as there was and is another side to contemporary scientific culture.

As a young student, I used to laugh at those who, as I thought, placed God in the gaps of our scientific knowledge . This God-of-the-gaps criticism is often leveled against Christians and other religious believers, against all those who insist there is clear evidence of design in nature. To my way of thinking, such people lacked the patience and level-headedness that I possessed. It was so clear to me: Instead of plugging away to discover the natural mechanism for this or that mystery about the natural world, these pro-design people threw up their hands and used the God-did-it explanation as a cover for ignorance. This criticism of intelligent design proponents struck me as reasonable, so I didnt listen to their arguments.